It's cool - I never thought you were upset. The Exorcist joke was at the end of a thread that existed on an ezBoard that got nuked. The jist of it was that different kids are ready for different things at different ages. Which is exactly what you said.

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"Regime change, like charity, begins at home." - Ira Glass, This American Life

I didn't find the saber chopping that much worse than the other films. More yes but I think most people even kids are used to it by now. I remember more people in the theaters being upset over the ewoks that were killed than the new padme scene.=====================

It wasn't the lightsaber duels that caused me concern for my son -- it was seeing the dead Jedi younglings strewn about, and more so, the crispy Anakin scenes. I think PG-13 was appropriate.

It wasn't the lightsaber duels that caused me concern for my son -- it was seeing the dead Jedi younglings strewn about, and more so, the crispy Anakin scenes. I think PG-13 was appropriate.

Precisely. I also think I would have a hard time explaining why this happened to Anakin to my five year old. Dooku, the bad guy is one thing. Anakin, the central character to the story, and the graphic imagery is another.

First off, the way Dooku's hands are cut off...so deliberate. It's slow and borderline malicious compared with some of the other scenes where we've seen people lose limbs to lightsabers. The beheading makes it that much worse.

Then the younglings. Killing children, or even the implication of it is hard to take. I know the movie is not reality, and I've seen it 4 times, but I still shudder every time I see Anakin ignite his lightsaber in the Jedi Council Chamber.

Finally, the immolation. It seems far too realistic and it's easily the most disturbing image of the entire saga. Watching even the illusion of someone burning alive is not for the faint of heart.

I definitely think that those items alone are enough justification for the PG-13 rating.

I still shudder every time I see Anakin ignite his lightsaber in the Jedi Council Chamber.

Thank you for mentioning that. I think the most disturbing moment, even moreso than Anakin burning, is when he ignites his lightsaber in the temple and the youngling jumps from surprise/shock/fear.

It's not the most graphic image, but the fear in his eyes and my realization that Anakin is really going to kill them all? Sometimes the imagination is much more disturbing than anything they can show on the screen.

Precisely. The insinuation of what is about to happen in the Jedi Council chamber is extremely disturbing. If you have a brain in your head you know what is about to happen. It makes the whole thing that much more tragic.